Two Governing Board members of the Contra Costa Community College District will complete their time in office Dec. 2, and it’s up to East County voters to refill one of those seats in this November’s election.
Rober t Calone of district ward 5, and Tomi Van De Brooke of ward 2, have terms that end in December.
Costa Costa County is divided into five sections called wards. Voters from each ward elect one of the five members of the governing board to four-year terms.
The communities of Clyde, Bay Point, Pittsburg, Antioch, Knightsen, Bethel Island and part of Brentwood, make up the territory of ward 5.
Van De Brooke is seeking re-election in ward 2 and has two candidates running against her.
Calone is not seeking reelection and three candidates, De’Shawn Woolridge, Daniel Borsuk and Greg Enholm, are on the ballot for the ward 5 spot on the governing board.
The three candidates were in LMC’s Librar y community room on Sept. 27, where they answered questions from the public, discussed district issues and argued as to why they should be elected to the board.
According to the district website, the main job of the governing board is to set the overall operating policy of the college district.
Those who are elected to the governing board will have to do so on an already tight, and possibly smaller budget in the next fiscal year.
California’s 2012-2013 budget assumes that voters will pass new temporar y taxes in November.
If the taxes fail, California’s community college’s state funding will be reduced by 5.4 billion dollars.
According to district calculations, that would mean a 9.2 million dollar cut for the district.
To see and hear the candi- dates full responses as to how they would deal with these and other issues, visit UF.4cd.edu for the video of the the Sept. 27 forum.
DANIEL BORSUK
Candidate Daniel Borsuk, 65, attended Diablo Valley College and recieved a Bachelor’s Degree in journalism from the University of Oregon.
Borsuk said that he worked for various local newpapers after college, including the Antioch Ledger.
He now writes and edits for a trade journal about the commercial insurance business.
Borsuk also served on the Contra Costa county Board of Education for twenty years.
“I have seen so many recommendations that come from various advisory panels [and] committees that are excellent ideas, but they never get put into action,” Borsuk said. “As a tr ustee I would definitely kick into action some of these ideas.”
GREG ENHOLM
Candidate Greg Enholm, 58 has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Master’s in economics from the University of Florida.
Enholm worked for the Wisconsin Utilities Commission and also worked on Wall St. as a financial analyst for utilities markets. He worked for Merrill Lynch and served as Vice President at Salomon Brothers from 1985 to 1992.
He started his own firm which he says he sold in 1998. “I thought that I was too young to retire, so I said what could I do to give back to society,” Enholm said at the
Sept. 27 forum. Enholm decided he could
give back by becoming a math teacher. He taught at Liberty High School and now teaches math at HealdCollege. Enholm is also the current Library Commissioner for Contra Costa County.
DE’SHAWN WOOLRIDGE
Candidate De’Shawn Wool- ridge 21, lists his occupation on the Contra Costa Times website as an Education programs analyst.
He earned associates de- grees from DVC and LMC, and is also a graduate of University of the Pacific in Stockton.
“I have served student government at the state level, and the regional level, and the district level, so I have familiarity with community college policy.” Woolridge said Sept. 27.
Woolridge was LMC’s student body president and was also the region representative on the California’s Community College’s student senate.
Woolridge also currently serves on a few local boards. He is on the Contra Costa Economic Oppor tunity Council and the Pittsburg Unified School District Bond Oversight Committee.
Among his goals as trustee, Woolridge said he wants to expand the number of affordable electronic textbooks.
